Participants include Colm Toíbín and Claire Tomalin

Manchester might be most famous for its energetic music scene and England’s longest running soap, but its annual literature festival is something of a rising star. This year it will open with a conversation between acclaimed novelist Colm Toíbín and prize-winning author Alan Hollinghurst. Two weeks of readings, workshops and special commissions follow: Antonia Fraser remembers Harold Pinter, Claire Tomalin discusses Charles Dickens, and Jeffrey Eugenides reads from his new novel, The Marriage Plot.

In 2010, Jeanette Winterson delivered the first ‘Manchester Sermon’ at Manchester Cathedral as part of the festival. This year’s reader is Andrew Motion. Young book-lovers can hear Tom Palmer read from his children’s rugby novel Scrum. Those keen to wander further afield can take the ‘Poems of the City Guided Walk’, or a tour of watering holes frequented by Thomas De Quincey, Anthony Burgess and other bygone literati.

International literature is widely explored. There’s a conversation on Nordic crime writing, a discussion on the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and an event with Chinese author and film-maker Zhu Wen. One event features leading young poets from Latvia and Macedonia, while a special exhibition unveils the work of Argentinian ‘writers' photographer’ Daniel Mordzinski, who has worked for more than 30 years to create a ‘Human Atlas’ of Ibero-American literature. At the end of the festival, you can test your knowledge of ‘bookish facts and figures’ with James Walton’s quiz.

Events will take place across the city from 10-23 October, with the International Burgess Foundation as the festival’s hub. For more information and to book tickets, click here.